The game of golf is becoming increasingly popular in the United States and internationally. Presently, golfers, both professional and non-professional, are continuously striving to improve their golf game. It is well known that the physical characteristics of the club shaft of a golf club can effect the travel of the golf ball. Club shafts having a high stiffness to weight ratio, low shaft vibration, good strength, good resistance to torsion and good resilience to fatigue are usually preferred by golfers.
Typically, each golf club shaft includes a shaft tip section, a shaft intermediate section and a shaft butt section. The shaft tip section typically has a relatively small outer diameter when compared to the shaft butt section. A head is secured to the shaft tip section, while a grip is secured to the shaft butt section. The shaft intermediate section extends between and tapers from the shaft butt section to the shaft tip section. Usually, the taper is substantially linear or includes a series of sequentially smaller, annular steps.
Unfortunately, existing club shafts are not entirely satisfactory. For example, existing club shafts can be too weak, have poor resistance to torsion and poor resilience to fatigue. One way to improve the strength and resistance to torsion of the club shaft is to increase the wall thickness of the club shaft. However, the resulting thicker walled club shaft is often too heavy and/or has other undesirable performance characteristics.
In light of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a club shaft and method for manufacturing a club shaft having improved strength and resistance to fatigue crack propagation. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a composite club shaft having improved durability, torque characteristics and performance characteristics.